Sports ramblings…with a Yankees bias!

What Happened Tuesday Night?…

Mo showed why he is great…

A day after losing a game in walk-off fashion to
the Texas Rangers, Mariano Rivera bounced back to save the Yankees’ 7-6 comeback
victory over the Rangers.So many
relievers have a tough time “forgetting yesterday”, but not Mo.After allowing a lead-off triple to Elvis
Andrus, he retired the next three batters to strand Andrus at third with what
would have been the tying run.

When Austin Kearns bounced into a double play with
the bases loaded to end the top half of the 8th inning with the
score 6-5 Texas, I thought the Yankees may have exhausted their chances for
victory.However, or rather , fortunately,
Marcus Thames proved me wrong.He
homered in the 8th, and drove in the eventual winning run in the 9th.Not bad for a guy who gets mentioned as an
afterthought when you name off Yankee players.

AP

I am a bit disappointed with Kearns, who has failed to hit in key
situations since his arrival in the Bronx.But to his credit, he did make a great shoestring catch in the 9th
in helping Mo to the save.

The other two recent acquisitions, Kerry Wood and
Lance Berkman, both played roles in Wednesday’s win.Wood pitched the 7th and 8th
innings in scoreless relief to pick up his first win as a Yankee.Berkman drove in a run in the 7th
on a ground rule double as the Yankees chipped away at what once had been a 6-1
Texas lead.Berkman, it should be noted,
was the only Yankees starter who did not strike out on a night when 17 Yankees
did, tying the dubious franchise record.Nick Swisher, in particular, was an awful 0-for-5, with 4 SO’s.

Javier Vazquez, who had recently been diagnosed
with a “dead arm”, was very ineffective in the match-up against the almost
Yankee, Cliff Lee.Javy was out after 4 1/3
innings after he gave up 6 runs.I am
not quite sure what it will take to get Javy back to the level of pitching he
was at last month, but he needs to improve if the Yankees intend to hold off
the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox.

Matthew Emmons/US Presswire

Meanwhile, Cliff Lee was solid in striking out 11 Yankees although the Yankees were able to score against him late as he gave up a total of 4 runs through 6 1/3 innings.I remain hopeful that Lee will be the Yankees prime target in the free agent market after the season.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Yankees were fortunate to get a win out of a
two game series that looked like it would be a sweep for Texas.The Rays lost to the Detroit Tigers, but the
Boston Red Sox steamrolled over the team that gave the Yankees and Rays so much
trouble, the Toronto Blue Jays.For all
of the key injuries Boston has suffered this year, they are within striking
distance at just 5 games back.

Mark Blinch/Reuters

The series in Texas was tough.It started with news that hot-hitting Mark
Teixeira would remain in New York with his wife, who gave birth to their third
child, William Charles.I hated to see
the removal of Teixeira’s bat from the lineup, and it was compounded when
Robinson Cano couldn’t start the first game of the series due to illness
(although he did later pinch hit and entered the game as a replacement at 2nd
late in the game despite his weakened condition).Jorge Posada also missed the game, so those
were three huge voids in the lineup.

The Yankees now head for Kansas City for a
four-game set against the Royals.Teixeira will rejoin the team, and should be in the lineup tonight.On paper, tonight’s game looks like a
mismatch (CC Sabathia versus Bruce Chen), however, the Yankees have not been
playing great ball lately.They missed a
great opportunity to bury both the Rays the Red Sox and couldn’t do it.Hopefully, the team can catch fire soon and
put the pressure on the other teams instead of carrying the weight on their own
shoulders.

1 Comment

Sure hope Vazquez’s dead arm doesn’t become a real problem. Combined with Hughes’ innings limit and AJ’s inconsistency, I worry about our rotation and wish we’d gotten Cliff Lee before the trade deadline. But Andy will be back soon and the bullpen’s been great lately. Hoping for good things in KC!

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